If Paul is right, we are living fantasy lives. Anytime we live as though power conquers and wealth protects, we live a fantasy. Anytime we live like death wins, we live a fantasy. Paul tells us about a future that has already happened—yet we live not only like it hasn’t happened yet but like we don’t think it ever really will.

From this side of history, Jeremiah has great resolve. Yet the shifting political allegiances he interprets are not so different from our own uncertainties. Only in retrospect are Jeremiah's claims clear.